You Forgot to Call
by n-e-o-nT O A S T E R md
Summary: Chase has never talked about his past much, but when his old neighbor, Alex, starts working with him, things are brought to the surface that he wish would have stayed buried...
1. ACHOO!

I had clinic duty today, and I definitely wasn't excited about it.

"There's a patient waiting for you in exam room three," said one of the nurses as she handed me the file. I rolled my eyes, and didn't even bother looking at the file. It was probably just another over protective parent who brought their child to the hospital over a case of the sniffles. As I stuck my head into the room, I saw that this was no over protective parent. It was a woman, probably about her mid twenties to early thirties, just like me. Her dark hair bounced slightly as she turned her head towards me.

"Oh my God! Robbie!" The woman said, before she jumped up and hugged me. All it took was her voice for me to recognize her. Her thick Australian accent made me realize exactly who she was.

"Alex!" I said "What are you doing here?" I asked. The last time I saw her, she drove me to the airport so I could catch a plane to the United States.

"Well, "she said sitting back down on the uncomfortable table, "I came to America to work here, I had no idea you worked here too! Anyways, I'm here in this clinic because tomorrow is my first day here, and I've been feeling quite a bit under the weather, I just wanted to make sure nothing serious was wrong." She said flipping her hair back over her shoulder. I couldn't believe it, Alex and I were going to be working together. The girl who let me play doctor on her baby kitten would now be working in the exact same building as I would.

"So" I said pulling out a thermometer to check her temperature, "Where will you be working?" I asked sticking the thermometer in her ear and waiting for her temperature to appear on the little screen near my hand.

"Well, Dr. Cuddy told me I'd be working with a Dr. Gregory House. She said he's an insufferable, ignorant, self absorbed bastard, but I just told her that I could handle it after living with my dad for most of my life." She said laughing. I wasn't however. She may have thought that Cuddy was just exaggerating how much of a jerk House was, but words will never be able to describe how despicable House was. Then a beeping came from the thermometer. I looked down at the little screen and saw something I wish I could change.  
"Euhm, Alex, you're gonna have to stay here at the hospital tonight." I said staring down at the little screen on the thermometer in my hands.

"Why? What's wrong with me?" She asked cocking her head slightly.

"Well," I said taking the covering off the thermometer and turning around to throw it away and put back the thermometer, "You have a temperature of about 105˚ so we're going to keep you here to make sure you don't start…" but I didn't get to finish my sentence. All of a sudden I heard something or someone fall to the floor, so I turned around to check and see what the problem was. As soon as I looked around, I saw Alex lying there on the floor, twitching and shaking.

"…Seizing! Damn, Nurse! I'm gonna need some help in here." I shouted, holding Alex, trying to hold her still. When the nurse came in Alex had stopped, but there was no way I was going to let her go now. The nurse helped me lift her up onto a medical bed, and I tried to get her to start talking to me, to make sure she was okay.

"Alex… ALEX! Come on, say something, ANYTHING." I started shouting at her. I quickly pulled out my pager and called Dr. House. Something was going wrong, and as much as I hated to admit it, I wouldn't be able to figure this one out on my own. Not too long after I paged him, the demonic old crippled walked into the room I was in with Alex.

"What's the matter? Your girlfriend shocked when she saw how small you are?" House asked.

"This is Alexandra Kelly, she came into the clinic this morning with," I said then checked her chart, "slight nausea and a fever of 105˚"

"So she came in with the flu what's the big deal?" House said turning around to leave. I kicked his cane out from underneath him.

"She started seizing right after I checked her temperature." I said glaring at the obnoxious thing that people called a doctor.

"I'm guessing you spent a little bit too much chatting her up and not enough time looking at her chart due to the fact that when you were telling me her symptoms, you had to check it again." House said, and right then, at the worst possible time Alex regained consciousness.

"Robbie? What just happened?" she said sitting up.

"Robbie? Things just got a lot more interesting. I'll take the case." The vile crippled said sneering.

"You must be the, and I quote 'insufferable, ignorant, self absorbed bastard' that I'm going to have to work for after I get out of this hospital bed." Alex said smirking. House turned to me.

"Aw, you said all that about me? I don't know what to say Chase." House said placing his hand over his heart and giving me a fake 'thank you' look.

"No, idiot, it was me." We all turned to see the Dean of Medicine, Lisa Cuddy, standing in the doorway to the hospital room we were all standing in. "Nice to see you Dr. Kelly, it's just unfortunate that it's under these conditions. " She said stretching out her hand for Alex to shake.

"Trust me there's no one who feels that way more than me." She said smiling, and shaking the hand of the normally friendly Dean of Medicine. House rolled his eyes and grabbed for his cane.

"You," he said pointing at me "follow me." Having no choice whatsoever I followed him back to the 'office' as I liked to call it.


	2. Differential Diagnosis

*Still Chase's POV*

House burst through the door with me trailing not too far behind him. Quickly he walked up to the white board and wrote down, in his messy scrawl 'Fever' and 'Nausea'. Before House could write the third symptom Cameron butted in.

"Why are we treating a patient with the flu?" She asked, and I backed away from her slowly not wanting to get caught in the line of House's wrath.

"Because, Miss I-think-I'm-the-best-doctor-in-the-room, there's another symptom AND she's Chase's girl friend." He swatted. Two sets of eyes turned on me. I looked back at them.

"She's NOT my girlfriend, she's an old friend. We were next door neighbors when I lived back in Australia." I said to them, but they obviously didn't believe me. Foreman gave me the 'Yeah right' look and Cameron just stared at me wide eyed and open mouthed as if to say 'why didn't you mention her before?'

"Any way, the third symptom is seizures." House said drawing the two's attention away from me.

"Technically it was only one seizure…" I started to say but Mr. Know-it-all decided to ignore me.

"Differential diagnosis." He commanded, and we all just sat there. "Come on, come on! If we don't hurry up Chase's girlfriend will have seizure after seizure and soon they won't be able to make sweet love underneath the wonderful England moonlight."

"For the last time I'm not..." I started, but House quickly interrupted

"Yeah yeah, deny it all you want. We all know you're her boyfriend and you're British." He said. "Differential diagnosis, come on people! How hard is it to diagnose nausea, fever, and seizures?"

"She could have Epilepsy and the flu," suggested Cameron.

"Good, but no. Her Seizure happened while Chase was checking her temperature, not flashing lights in her face." House retorted.

"Could be Gallstones," said Foreman, a bit more confidently than Cameron had.

"No history of Gallstones in the family," I said, and everyone looked at me. "What? She's my old neighbor. Her dad died in a car crash and a couple years later her mum ODed. No history of Gallstones at all."

"Fine," said House, "No Gallstones, what else could it be?"

"Gastroenteritis?" questioned Cameron.

"No, that doesn't cause seizures." House said. Then all our pagers started beeping. Each of us checked them then bolted out the door down to Alex's room. A nurse was standing there and Alex was seizing again.

"We don't know what happened she was fine one moment, she was just talking to me, telling me how much she would miss Australia, then she just stopped in the middle of her sentence and started seizing!" the frightened nurse told us. I held her down, trying to make her stop like last time, while Dr. House started to question the nurse.

"How long was the pause?" He asked.

"I'm not quite sure, five seconds at most." Replied the nurse, shakily.

"Did she say anything about feeling nauseated?" House asked.

"Maybe once or twice, not anything major happened." She said.

"Sorry to but in on your game of twenty questions, but your patient is going to die if you don't figure out what's causing the seizures." Dr. Cuddy said irritated that she had also been paged down here.

"Fine. Chase, get a CT scan, check for Gallstones, and while you're at it check her brain too. Cameron, you do a Lumbar puncture to check for Epilepsy. Foreman, you'll be getting a blood sample and checking for Gastroenteritis." House ordered.

"But we already…" Started Cameron, but she didn't get to finish.

"I don't care what we have or haven't ruled out; we need to figure out what's wrong with her!" House shouted at Cameron. I'm pretty sure everyone in the room was thinking the same thing. House hadn't gotten his vicodin yet this morning.


	3. Lumbar Puncture Time

*STILL Chase's POV*

Alex was awake again when I was giving her the CT scan.

"So, what are you checking for again?" she asked me.

"Gallstones and any abnormalities in your brain," I said before continuing on with the CT scan. There were no gallstones, so I continued to scan the brain. As soon as the picture of her brain came up, I noticed something wrong.

"Can I get out of here? I'm feeling a little nauseous," she said. I pressed down the button that turned on the intercom between me and her.

"Just a few more seconds Alex, you'll be out in no time." I said reassuring her.

"Robbie I think I'm going to throw up…" She said. I sighed then turned the intercom back on.

"You're going to be fine, it's just a slight bit of claustrophobia," I told her, and then I heard a noise. It sounded a lot like vomiting. I rushed into the room with the CT scanner, and pulled her out as fast as I could. Vomit was now dripping from her mouth and covering her hospital gown. "Alright, it's alright. We'll get you all cleaned up, and we'll get you a new gown." I said sitting her upright.

"I'm so sorry Robbie, I just…" She didn't get to finish her sentence though; she vomited once again, this time all over the both of us. "Oh Robbie, I'm sorry I didn't mean to… Oh I feel horrible." She said hiding her face in her hands.

"It's alright, it's just the sickness, and it isn't your fault." I said rubbing her back. Thankfully, I was pretty sure that I knew what exactly what was wrong.

I was back in the 'office' waiting for Cameron and Foreman to come back with their test results when Wilson walked in.

"So how's the search for the disease going?" He asked, just standing there staring at the white board with only two symptoms on it. "Why is House treating a flu patient?" Wilson asked suspicious.

"He didn't get to add a symptom." I said walking up and writing 'seizures' underneath the other two.

"Gallstones, "he said questioningly. I simply shook my head. "Well then, what is it?" The oncologist asked me. Again I shook my head.

"You'll have to wait for everyone else to hear my idea." I told him. I'd never seen the oncologist pout before. Apparently everything was possible. We both sat there waiting for everyone else to come back. Suddenly my pager went off. I checked it then got up to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"They need me to help with Alex's Lumbar Puncture. Apparently she doesn't like needles." I said, opening the door to leave. Wilson laughed a little.

"Good luck with that." He said. I just shook my head and walked out.

By the time I made it to Alex's room she was screaming.

"Alex, Alex, calm down, it's me D- Robbie." I said trying to calm her down.

"My-my eyes, the light hurts so much…" she said.

"You heard her. You need to tone down the light as much as you can." I said.

"I need to see to be able to do the Lumbar Puncture correctly." Cameron said.

"I know that, but right now she's experiencing severe photophobia, so if you don't want to paralyze her, your best chance is turning down the lights." I said to the stubborn brunette. She glared at me for a few moments then toned down the lights. "Alex" I whispered, "you're going to feel some pain in your back, but we need you to stay still if we're ever going to find out what's wrong." She looked at me and nodded slowly. "Now, I'm going to need you to pull your knees up to your chest, alright?" I told her, she nodded and pulled her knees up to her chest, curling up into the fetal position. I gripped her hand, and made sure to keep whispering that everything was going to be okay throughout the entire procedure. As soon as Cameron was finished, we both help Alex get into a normal position again.

"Hey Cameron, could you also run the test for Encephalitis?" I asked. Cameron gave me an odd look. "Please." I just said.

"Fine but you owe me one." She said before walking out with the sample of spinal fluid. I was happy to find out that both House and Foreman were already in the 'office' and just waiting on Cameron. We sat there for about an hour or two. Finally Cameron walked in. She dropped a folder on my lap and walked to her seat.

"Okay, hit me with your best shot." The insufferable cripple said. I quickly peeked at the results in the folder and smiled. "Dr. Chase, or should I say the boyfriend, you seem to be oddly joyous, what do you have?" He asked me.

"Encephalitis." I said confidently.

"Oh that's too bad you should get that checked out, make sure it's not too serious." House said.

"No, Ale-Miss Kelly has a more severe case of encephalitis. You can see it in the CT- scan results, there's inflammation, and with some of the extra spinal fluid I asked Cameron to check for it and it turns out she has the form that is caused by the herpes simplex virus. We just need to get her on an IV of steroids for the inflammation of the brain, and one of acyclovir for the rest of it." I said and waited for House to make his witty comment to try and set me off.

"Alright then. Get her on one IV of acyclovir and some steroids; hopefully she'll be in here with us in about a week." He said. We all just stared at him. He never agreed with any of us.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!" He said, spooking Cameron and Foreman into leaving. I just stood there.

"Why didn't you challenge it?" I asked.

"Challenge what?" he said.

"My idea, you never let us just tell you what's wrong. You pick and prod at our idea, until even we don't believe it and THEN you tell us its right. How come you just agreed with me today?" I asked.

"Simple, I knew what the answer was as soon as she started seizing." He said sitting there looking like a poodle that had just won first place in a show.

"Then why did you put her through that? She could've been spared several uncomfortable tests." I said.

"Yeah and you could've been spared vomit covering your coat. You really need to get that cleaned by the way." He said. I couldn't believe him. He'd probably just done this to stress me out, but I didn't care. I walked out of that cruddy little room I would be stuck in for the next two years of my life. Eventually I made it to the locker room, where I stripped out of my medical coat and grabbed the extra each doctor in the hospital was given, just in case things like this might happen. Even though I was completely infuriated with House, I still couldn't help but wonder how life in the hospital would be now that Alex would be hanging around with us. Something in me wondered if things I would normally have liked to keep hidden would rear their ugly heads.


	4. My First Day

*Alex's point of view*

It was probably about eight o' clock at night when I decided to call Robbie (Chase). The entire time I waited for him to pick up, I hoped and prayed that he still had the same cell phone number. Soon I heard his voice on the other end of the phone.  
"Hello?" He said. I smiled and replied.

"Robbie? It's me, Alex, I was just wondering if you'd page me tomorrow when you wake up. You know, so I actually get there on time." I asked politely.

"Yeah sure… Oh, and Alex." He said.

"Yes, what is it Robbie?" I asked.

"It's great to see you again, but could you please not call me Robbie in front of our co-workers." He requested. I felt confused. Why would it matter what I called him? 'Maybe it's because House thinks you two are a couple.' A little voice inside my head said.

"Alright then, good night Dr. Chase," I said, giggling a little bit after I said Dr. Chase. It just sounded so funny to me, calling him by his last name. I was just a bit too used to the pet name that I had given him. We both hung up at the same time, and that's when I realized that he hadn't said goodbye, let alone good night. I don't know why, but I felt a little bit depressed. I guess I just wanted him to actually acknowledge that he cared whatsoever. I sighed then sat down on the couch that had boxes piled around it. My new apartment was crowded with empty, full, and partially full boxes of everything from clothes to books about different diseases. I walked into my bedroom and opened a box full of books. I grabbed a random book from the selection and sat down to read on my bed.

The book started kind of slow, saying something about how the girl had never left her home town of Zulu and was now moving to New York. 'Kind of like you...' The voice said. I laughed.

"Yeah, but unlike me, She'll fall in love with a smoking hot guy and live happily ever after." I said, before I realized I was talking out loud. I hit myself in the forehead and continued to read. By the time I finished the book, it was about 1 o'clock. Getting up, I walked over to my bookshelf and set the book amongst the few other books sitting there. I got back into my bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I was awoken by the sound of a pager version of the NCIS theme song. I grabbed it and checked the name. It was Chase. I smiled and laughed.

"I forgot I had asked Chase to wake me up…" I said groggily, slowly getting out of bed. I had to go through about five boxes before I actually found the outfit I was looking for to wear today. I pulled a grey and white fuzzy boat neck sweater over my head, and a white miniskirt wrapped around my waist. My hair was pulled back into two loose pigtails, and my bangs were held back with a single bobby pin decorated with a steel flower whose petals were glass. Quickly, I put on some cover up and eye shadow. I grabbed my lip gloss and a pop tart and headed out the door. I got to Princeton-Plainsboro at just about the same time as Chase did. I got out of my car chuckling. Chase got out and gave me a funny look.

"What's so funny?" He asked cocking his head.

"It takes you just about as long to do your hair as it takes me to get dressed, do my hair, AND apply my makeup." I said laughing. Chase just rolled his eyes and kept on walking into the hospital. I followed him giggling the entire way into the hospital. My coat was hanging from my arm as I walked through the hospital door. Cuddy saw me without my coat.

"I'd put your coat on, if Volger sees you without it, he'll think you're just like House." She said.

"You mean he'll think I'm an insufferable, ignorant, self absorbed…" I started to say while putting on my coat, but wasn't allowed to finish my sentence.

"Yes that does seem to describe House well enough." A man behind me said. I turned around to see a man taller and heavier than me of African American decent. I only guessed that it was Volger.

"Oh you should have let her finished, it gets better." Another voice said. I'm not sure how, but I already knew that the voice I heard belonged to none other than Gregory House. He was already getting on my nerves and the few times I saw him I was either delirious because I had a deadly fever, or seizing.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go and meet the rest of my colleagues." I said maneuvering my way out of what seemed to me to be an instant death trap. I looked a head and saw the elevator door was closing, so I began to run towards it completely ignoring the 'Caution: Wet Floor' sign. Sure enough, I slipped, which resulted in both my skirt and coat to fly up giving House, Cuddy, Volger and the rest of the hospital staff working at the moment a completely unblocked view of my underwear. Chase stuck his foot in the way of the elevator and walked a few steps to help me up.

"I saw London, I saw France, I saw a Brit's underpants!" House chanted at me.

"I'm not British!" I yelled at him after Chase helped me up off the floor.

"Well then, Robbie lied about you being his next door neighbor." House said, putting emphasis on Robbie.

"I'm not British either House. " Chase said, still with my hand in his.

"Maybe that's true, but they way you both are standing together definitely suggests that you are a couple." House spat at us. Quickly we both let go of each other's hands and turned away, personally I was blushing a bit, thankful at that time for my annoyingly long bangs that weren't quite long enough to be pulled back with a hair tie. I quickly pressed the button for the elevator, since the other one had just recently left. House hobbled over to us and stood there with us until the elevator doors opened. We all stepped in, and the elevator doors slid shut behind us.

"It's a shame you weren't wearing a thong today, Dr. Kelly. Then we would've gotten quite a show." He said to me. I elbowed him in the stomach. Thankfully the doors opened right then, so I quickly made my exit. Chase soon caught up with me.

"You're going to regret doing that you know." Chase told me.

"Really? 'Cause right now, I feel pretty good about what just happened. Besides, he deserved it." I said aggravated. We finally made it to a room with the words 'Gregory House M.D.' written on the glass door. Chase opened the door like a true gentleman, and before I could even set foot in the room, House shoved his way past me, causing me to fall backwards into Chase's arms.

"Nice catch." A woman with long brown hair said from inside the office. Also inside was an African American man sitting across the table from the woman, and a man with brown hair that was just about as well tended to as Chase's was. I could tell by the tone in the woman's voice that she didn't exactly like the idea of Chase catching me. I had no idea why however. After I got back on my feet I walked into the room and Chase followed, not too far behind.

"Dr. Kelly, good to see you're feeling better," said the guy sitting at the glass table.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I don't remember your name."

"I'm Dr. Eric Foreman, this is Dr. Alison Cameron, and you probably have met Dr. House." He said introducing me to most of the people in the room. I smiled and nodded a greeting towards Cameron, and shook Foreman's hand.

"I'm Dr. James Wilson, head of oncology." The only other man besides House who was standing said as he walked forward extending his hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Wilson," I said, shaking his hand "I'm Dr. Alexandra Kelly, I'm the new Angiologist."

"Please, just call me Wilson. It's a pleasure to meet you too Dr. Kelly." He said.

"You would have thought it more pleasurable if you would have been down in the lobby a few minutes ago when Dr. Kelly here slipped. We all got quite a show down there." He said. I blushed just thinking about it and turned away, forcing a curtain of black bangs to cover my face.

"Anyway," Wilson said interrupting the silence, "I have a patient for you." He handed House a blue file, which the doctor opened as he popped two or three pills in his mouth that he had gotten from a bottle he put in his pocket.

"Oh goodie," The crippled said with a less than believable fake enthusiasm as he read through the file.


	5. It's A Bird!

*Alex's POV*

As House read through the file, we all sat there staring at him, waiting for him to say anything about whether he would take the case or not. This could possibly be my very first case on House's team. I felt really nervous and started fidgeting. I would take the hair pin out of my hair, and I would mess with it in my hands.

"I'll take it." House muttered. Wilson nodded and headed out the door and over to his office. I let out a small sigh of relief. He hobbled over to the whiteboard, which I guessed once held my symptoms. Picking up a black marker House started writing words in an unintelligible scribble.

"A. Bird is dizzy, having fainting spells, and joint pain. Differential Diagnosis, now!" He said as I wrote the three symptoms down on a sheet of paper in my notebook.

"If it's a bird, why don't we just kill it?" Foreman said questioningly, and a strange, almost creepy smile spread across House's face. It made me want to hide behind Chase, although I was pretty sure Chase wouldn't like that all too greatly.

"I was hoping you'd say that Foreman." House said hobbling over to a drawer, opening it, and pulling out a gun. "Here, go and do what you think is the best…" The scary grin was still there, "You should all go too, to clean up the mess. New Brit, here…" He said tossing me the file, "don't open it until you get to the room." I almost asked why, but Chase just shook his head, telling me to just do as House said. Foreman rolled his eyes and shoved the gun in his pocket, and we all got up and headed to the room it said on the top of the file.

"Am I the only person who's wondering why they'd give a bird a hospital room?" I said stopping right before we got to the room door. They all looked at me, and apparently they hadn't thought about it at all. 'I guess they don't question House too often…' I thought, walking inside the hospital room right behind Chase. Foreman already had the gun House gave him out of his pocket. Unfortunately, just as I suspected there was no bird anywhere in the room. However there was a patient that was now very confused and very terrified of the black man with the gun.

"Wha! What's going on here?" the man said panicking. He kept glancing back and forth between the nervous me and the armed Foreman. "Oh my God! I'm going to die, he's going to kill me, then he's gonna kill everyone. Oh my God, oh my God, I'm going to die… I'm going to die!" We all looked back and forth between each other.

"Sir, I'm not going to kill you, I was sent here to shoot a bird." Foreman said, gun still in hand, trying to calm down the patient.

"I knew we shouldn't have listened to him, I knew it! The patient is getting hysterical…" I muttered under my breath. Chase elbowed me in the side. "Ouch! What was that for?" I said looking at Chase. He just rolled his eyes at me. I stuck my tongue out at him, just like a little kid, and pouted a bit. Cameron sighed and I swore I heard her mutter 'Australians…' but I wasn't going to say anything until later. The patient was still panicking shouting about how Foreman was going to kill him.

"Sir, I was sent in here to kill a bird, and clearly you're not a bird." He said, but the patient wouldn't listen. "Dr. Kelly, will you please look at the file for this patient." I nodded and opened the file for the patient. I read it all then checked the name.

"Oh God, Dr. Foreman look at the name of the patient…" I said handing the file to him. Quickly he read it over.

"I'm very sorry Mr. Bird," he said, "There's been a small misunderstanding between me and my boss, he made us believe that a bird as in the animal type bird was in this room." Foreman said. Just then House walked in.

"So, shot the patient yet?" He asked, then seeing that the patient was still alive he said "guess not." Hobbling over to Foreman, he grabbed the gun out of his hand and aimed it in his own mouth. All of us grew wide eyed.  
"House… Don't do it…" Cameron said. I glared at the back of her head and muttered "suck up." House just ignored her and pulled the trigger. However, instead of a bullet leaving the gun's barrel, a shot of some red liquid squirted into the doctor's mouth.

"It was just… a water gun?" I said confused, looking at House. He shook his head and swallowed.

"Not just any water gun, a water gun filled with red Kool-Aid. It's yummier that way." He said. I sneezed. "Gesundheit…" He said, "Come on everyone, back to the office and differential diagnosis…" The obnoxious crippled said heading towards the door to the room. We all followed House one by one starting with Cameron, followed by Foreman. I was just about to head out too, but Chase stopped me.

"Are you sure you're feeling better?" He asked me. I rolled my eyes.

"Chase it was just a sneeze, nothing's..." I started to say, but Chase interrupted me.

"I just don't want to have to see you like that again…" He said very seriously, and for the first time since I came to the US, I could tell he still cared about me. Deep down, he was still the boy next door who let me cry on his shoulder when my dad got in a car accident, and I just had to bring him to the surface.

"I'll be fine Robbie, it was just dust," I said, but I could tell he didn't believe me, "If you really feel it's necessary, you can test my blood, we can even do another CT scan, just to make you feel better…" I told him, hoping he would be satisfied.

"Alright, we better catch up to everyone, or we'll never hear the end of it from House." He said walking out of the room, once again acting like the Chase he must have created since coming here.

"He cares a lot about you…" someone said from behind me. I turned and saw it was a nurse that had been standing there the entire time. I smiled and turned back to watch him go.

"He does, doesn't he?" I said, and then headed out, soon catching up to Chase.

Foreman, Cameron, and House had already almost made it back to the room, and we both knew that we would have to run to catch up to them. I wasn't going to run, but when Chase started heading off, I had no choice but to start running too. We both got to the door at just about the same time. However, while Chase was busy catching his breath, I walked into the room, barely breathing hard.

"Wow you two guys are FAST!" House said, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about running. I completely ignored him though, and sat down right behind my notebook. I opened the cover, but found that my notes and guesses at what the disease was had been torn out. Chase walked in, still breathing a bit heavily, and sat down next to me. "Alright, now that everybody's here, it's time for everyone's favorite game show, figure out what's wrong or the patient dies!" He said, "Newbie here had some ideas, would you like to share them?" He said, and I glared at him. I couldn't believe that he had stolen my notes just to see what I thought had been wrong.

"It could be a lot of things, but the two I thought of are Labyrinthitis and Takayasu's Arteritis…" I spat at House, feeling the words leave a bad taste in my mouth.

"Interesting, a balance disorder and a heart disease that normally affects women…" House said, "Any other ideas."

"It could be Lupus." Said Cameron.

"Doesn't account for the fainting spells…" House retorted, staring at the symptoms he had written.

"The fatigue could have caused the patient to faint." She said.

"Hmm, a symptom causing another symptom… I like it," House said smiling slightly, "Cameron, take Newbie with you and show her how to do a blood test. Check for Lupus, Foreman, once they're done, you'll take Newbie and show her how to do an MRI, see if there's anything in the patient's brain that suggests Labyrinthitis." As soon as House told us to, Cameron and I headed off to get some blood.


	6. The Truth Comes Out Sort of

*Alex's POV (yah know what, I might just stop putting this up here unless it's someone else's POV)*

Cameron told me to grab a syringe as she tied the rubber band looking thing around the patients arm.

"So I have Lupus?" Mr. Bird said. Cameron shook her head.

"No Mr. Bird, we're testing to see if you have Lupus, we're not exactly sure. You might also haveLabyrinthitis, so later Dr. Foreman and Dr. Kelly here are going to get you a MRI." Cameron explained to the very nervous Mr. Bird.

"Why is Dr. Kelly helping with all my tests?" He asked, getting more confused.

"I'm a new intern here; Dr. Cameron and Dr. Foreman are showing me how to do some basic tests." I said giving him a reassuring smile.

"So you didn't learn this in medical school?" He said. I nodded, but soon explained that just talking about how to do something is nothing like actually doing it, and as I looked at him I could almost read his mind: 'Oh well that's just GREAT!' I politely smiled back at him. Cameron pointed out exactly where I should insert the needle. Even though I was paying her the utmost attention, it still took me two or three times to actually hit the vein.

"Good work, not many people actually get the vein on their second try the first time they're doing it." She said to me as she put a band-aid over the miniscule puncture wounds.

"You know, it's a lot more fun to give shots than to receive them" I said trying to hold back a laugh. Cameron smiled for the first time since I'd met her. 'Oh good, she can smile I thought that she was missing muscles in her face that we use to smile.' I thought to myself.

"Well," Cameron said holding up the blood, "I'd better get this to the lab." As soon as I looked at the blood and caught a whiff of the iron in it, I got really dizzy really fast. My face was drained of all color and I just about fainted.

"Are you alright?" She asked cocking her head looking at my curiously. I nodded slowly, not wanting to move too much just in case. "I'm going to page Chase just so you'll have someone to walk you back to the room.

I nodded again, in awe that just that much blood had had this big of an effect on me. Cameron pulled out her pager, and hit some buttons. In moments Chase burst through the door. I felt kind of stupid for causing him so much worry.

"What's wrong?" he said, after looking at the patient to make sure he wasn't dying. Then he saw me. "Oh god, Alex! Are you okay?" he asked letting me lean on him for support. For the first time I realized I wasn't okay and I slowly shook my head.

"Blood…" I managed to whisper. Chase looked at Cameron hoping to get more than a one word answer.

"I think she gets a little queezy at the sight of blood." She said holding up the blood we'd taken from Mr. Bird. I just moaned a bit and buried my face in Chase's shoulder.

"I see… Come on Alex let's go back to the room. You can rest there and hopefully you'll be feeling better by the time you and Foreman have to do the MRI." Chase said starting to walk me back towards the glass room. As soon as we were out of range Chase whispered something in my ear. "We're getting you those blood tests as soon as possible." I really didn't feel like responding especially since my head felt like it was lighter than a balloon, so I just held onto Chase's arm for dear life, hoping House wouldn't say anything.

That wish was much too hopeful. As soon as we made it back into the room House saw us and that sadistic smile spread across his face. Thankfully before he could open his mouth to say some idiotic and insensitive comment, Foreman spoke.

"What in the world happened?" He asked, looking back and forth from me to Chase.

"I get a little dizzy at the smell of blood…" I said ashamed at myself when I heard it out loud.

"The…smell?" Foreman said obviously confused. I just sat there and nodded. I really didn't want to say too much more about the subject, I just wanted something to drink or eat in hopes that it would help with the light-headedness. I stood up, and just about fell over. Thankfully, however, both Foreman and Chase caught me.

"Warn us the next time you try something like that," Chase said smiling. I weakly smiled back at him.

"I was just going to get a drink…" I said pointing towards the sink. Then House coughed and at the same time said something that sounded like whore. I shook my head trying to ignore him, but Chase and Foreman both heard him, and decided that the best way of defending my honor would be letting go. The unexpected need of my own balance caught me off guard, and I feel to the ground, landing firmly on my ass. "Thanks guys." I muttered, obviously irritated, and Chase automatically turned back around to help me up.

I smiled a bit on the inside from the little bit of kindness Chase showed me. "I'll be fine, I just got a little dizzy for a second there…" I said, feeling a little bit of blood warming my cheeks. 'Funny how that works' I thought to myself 'a little bit of embarrassment or see someone you like that maybe you haven't seen since you were eighteen…' I shook my head. My thoughts always got way off track. Sometimes a little too off track for my liking.

"Since you're 'aw better naow' go get that MRI." House said putting his feet up on his desk and covering his face with a folder. I rolled my eyes at him and made my way out the door. Foreman followed right behind me like a puppy dog. The patient was already there waiting for the MRI to start when we got there.

We had barely even just started up the MRI machine when Foreman said something.

"So, how did you and Chase meet?" He asked looking at the screen.

"Well, it was late one night and…" I stared, but Foreman very rudely interrupted.

"Alright, alright we'll skip that one…" He said shaking his head.

"Skip that one! What is this? Twenty questions!" I asked angrily.

"No, I just want to know a little bit about the people I work with." He said which calmed me down a little bit, but not quite enough for me to think logically.

"You want to know stuff about me? Alright, my dad died in a car accident that was probably all my fault when I was ten. My mom committed suicide when I was eighteen. And the worst part about it was she died while I was dropping Chase of at the airport so he could get to America. And you want to know WHY she committed suicide? She thought I would leave her just like my dad did… Just like Chase left me…" I yelled fading off at the end feeling tears fill my eyes. Foreman looked at me like I was crazy, and I heard him scoot his chair a little bit further away from me. Mentally I slapped myself. "Listen, Foreman, I'm sorry… I shouldn't have blown up at you like that… I just, get tense when I think about that…"

"It's my fault really; I shouldn't have pried into things that weren't my business."Foreman said, not daring to look me in the eyes. I didn't really keep track of time, but it definitely was at least five or ten minutes before the MRI was completed. Those minutes were one of the most awkward silences in my entire life, and I was more than glad when we both left the room.


	7. BeepBeepBeep Oh Shit

I walked out of the MRI room felling like an idiot for exploding at Foreman like that after sitting there for about five minutes. Since I was staring at the ground I didn't realize there were other people walking in front of me. On my way back to 'Headquarters' – as I had been calling it for the five hours that I had been working here so far- I accidentally ran into Chase. Once again I found myself with my ass planted firmly on the ground.

"Oh, sorry," He said extending a hand to help me up. Gratefully I took the helping hand and pulled myself up with it.

"Thanks," I said brushing my bangs out of my face with the hand that wasn't gripping his. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going…" I said.

"Yeah I figured you wouldn't be. Especially after Foreman walked into the office muttering something about how crazy you are." He said, and I secretly wondered why we were still holding hands. When I remembered how I had humiliated myself in front of Foreman, I started blushing. "Listen, Alex. Maybe we should get that CT scan and blood test sooner than planned…" He said releasing my hand and starting to rub his shoulder in a nervous sort of way. I tried to refrain from biting my lip, but I couldn't restrain myself. "What is it you aren't telling me?" He asked turning his head slightly to the side.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing, I was just wondering how House would respond to us not being in the He- office for however long it took us to get the tests finished." I said, and he obviously started to think it over.

"It won't be very nice, but we need to get these tests done. I don't want to be worrying about you all day while I'm trying to do my job." He said with his arms crossed. My eyes watered up a little and my face got stuck in that weird smiling frown type state. 'He thinks about me all day…' I thought and kept staring at him. "What are you staring at?" He said staring at me with his classic, what's-wrong-with-you look.

"You think about me all day?" I said staring at him with my puppy dog eyes, batting my eyelashes. He started to blush a bit as his eyes darted around the hall.

"I never said that…" He said, sounding a little upset. I didn't care what he said. I knew that he did, and I just smiled. Grabbing his hand I started dragging him off. "Whoa! Where are we going?"He asked.

"To get the tests done, of course…" I said blushing and smiling, all the while thinking 'wow, I didn't realize he care so much.' Finally we got to the clinic, where it would be the easiest to get the blood test done. I sat down on the chair and watched as Chase tied the elastic around my arm and gently poked the needle into my skin. It hurt but only for a second or two, and after that I didn't feel a thing. However, as soon as I saw the blood in the vile and how quickly it was rushing in, I almost fainted. Chase looked at me and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. Weakly, I smiled at him and placed my free hand on his. As I looked past him, I saw my reflection on the paper towel dispenser. My face was so pale it looked like a ghost was staring back at me instead of my reflection.

"Just about finished," Chase said, drawing the second vile of blood. I tried to smile, but the smell wafting from the first vile was making me more dizzy than I already was. He looked up at me, and then realized his mistake. Quickly he put a stopper on the vile so no more of the dizzying fumes could reach my sensitive nose. I smiled and muttered a quick 'Thank You'. The second vile was just about full when Rob- Chase's pager went off. In his haste to see who it was, he accidentally knocked the second full vile to the floor, shattering it and spilling the blood everywhere. I looked down at it and nearly threw up. The mere thought of that being my blood on the floor made me nauseous. Quickly, I shut my eyes tight, but shutting my eyes didn't stop the smell from creeping up into my nose. I didn't know if Chase was still there or not, since I didn't dare open my eyes, but when I tried to say something, I felt myself losing consciousness, and falling over onto what I thought would be the ground.

I didn't know how much time had passed when I opened my eyes again, but I had a feeling it was long enough for anyone to be sufficiently worried about my condition. At first I wondered why my head wasn't hurting, and then I realized what I had fallen on was soft and warm. Before I decided to open my eyes, I realized there was something on my back. I couldn't tell exactly what it was but it sort of felt like a… Oh shit. My eyes shot open and I checked to see what I had fallen on.

"Glad to see you're finally awake," the person underneath me said. "You weigh a lot more than you look like you do when you're unconscious." When I turned to look at the face of the person, my fears were confirmed. The face that was maybe two inches away was Chase's. His expression was one of slight pain, but there was still a smile on his face. I started to scramble to get up off of Chase, but only was able to sit up. I looked down at Chase and saw the blood surrounding him and staining his coat and hair.

I just about collapsed again, but before I could, Chase grabbed my arms and held me up.

"Alex! Stay with me, I can't have you lying on top of me for another five minutes…" He yelled, and somehow I shook it off. Then what he said actually got through to me.

"Five minutes!" I shouted at him wide eyed," why in the world didn't you even try to wake me up before now?" I asked him still shouting. I was infuriated! I couldn't believe Chase had just let me lie there unconscious on top of him. Yet, a part of me was kind of glad that he hadn't woken me up.

"You try even moving with someone who weighs just as much as you do on your chest." He said back to me.

"Oh! I get it! So now I'm fat am I?" I said glairing down at him.

"No, that's not what I said! I said that..." He started, but I cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

"I don't care what you said it's what you implied." I said. Before Chase even had time to stutter an apology, I got up and stormed out of the room. I was so aggravated; you could almost see the smoke coming from my ears. It took a minute or two, but finally Chase caught up with me and tried to calm me down.

"Listen Alex, I didn't mean for what I said to sound like an insult." He said.

"Well it's too late for that." I muttered back at him angrily. Without my noticing, he positioned himself infront of me and stopped, forcing me to actually listen to what he had to say.

"The truth is, I didn't even try to move you." He said holding me in place by the shoulders.

"Oh yah? And why is that? Is it because you knew you would strain your muscles too much?" I said, tears filling my eyes at the horribly cruel comment I had just made about myself.

"No, I- oh never mind, it's too embarrassing…" He said releasing me and looking off to the side.

"What is it?" I said slightly calmed down, and very interested.

"You just looked so happy lying there, happier than I've seen you in a long time…" He said looking me straight in the eyes.

"You mean happier than I've been since my dad and mum died…" I said feeling tears form once again in my eyes. Chase was about to reply when suddenly a voice we both knew too well came on over the loud speaker.

"Will all the red-coats report to the queen's office?" House said. We both rolled our eyes at the same time and muttered, "We're not British we're Australian," to each other. Both of us started heading for the office of the Dean of Medicine, knowing that instead of Dr. Cuddy's face we'd see House sitting there smugly with Cameron and Foreman standing behind him like body guards. Both of them with their arms crossed and sour looks on their faces. We both knew exactly what was going to happen; we just wished that what we knew would somehow change just because we wanted it to.


End file.
